Wednesday evening’s match at the Emirates Stadium sees Arsenal host fellow top four hopefuls Southampton.

Having lost back to back league games for the first time in almost two years, the Gunners recovered to edge past West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at the weekend.

That result saw them move to within two points of the Champions League places, and they will hope to maintain that gap after fourth place Manchester United beat Stoke City on Tuesday evening.

Arsenal’s defensive woes continue with Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs both doubtful, as is midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain while Mikel Arteta and Wojciech Szczesny are definitely out.

Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud are each priced at 5.5 (9/2) to open the scoring with Bet Victor, with Danny Welbeck a 6.0 (5/1) shot with the same firm.

The home win is widely available at 1.8 (4/5) with Southampton as highly priced as the 5.0 (4/1) on offer from a variety of firms, while the draw can be found at 3.75 (11/4).

Ronald Koeman’s defeat to Manchester City on Saturday afternoon was just their third in the league this season but saw them slip below the champions to third place, though they will reclaim second spot if they better City’s result at Sunderland.

The Saints will be without Morgan Schneiderlin after the France international injured his thigh last time out, so Jack Cork is expected to deputise.

Graziano Pelle is priced at 8.5 (15/2) to get the first goal of the game with Betfair with Shane Long a 10.0 (9/1) shot with a number of firms.

The Gunners won last season’s corresponding fixture by two goals to nil with the sides playing out a 2-2 draw at St Mary’s Stadium two months later while it was the south coast club who were victorious when the sides met in the League Cup third round in North London just over two months ago.

Both teams have scored in six of the last seven meetings, and they are priced at 1.8 (4/5) with William Hill to do so this time around while the home win with both teams scoring is 3.75 (11/4) with the same firm.